South African Political Prisoners Fasting

By CHRISTOPHER S. WREN, Special to The New York Times

Published: March 5, 1990

JOHANNESBURG, March 4—
Several hundred South African political prisoners have begun a hunger strike to force President F. W. de Klerk to release them under a general amnesty that could strengthen the negotiating position of the African National Congress.

The hunger strike was started a week ago by 343 prisoners at Robben Island, the country's highest-security prison, and has spread since to include some convicts elsewhere, including several whites jailed in Pretoria. In a rare display of political unity, the strikers include members of the African National Congress, the rival Pan-Africanist Congress and the Black Consciousness Movement.

A Prisons Service spokesman said that ''a number of prisoners'' on Robben Island ''have not been taking the meals served to them in prison'' since Feb. 26.

Definition of Political Prisoner

The confrontation, which involves the definition of a political prisoner in South Africa, followed Mr. de Klerk's announcement on Feb. 2 ending a 30-year ban on the African National Congress, the Pan-Africanist Congress and the South African Communist Party.

People convicted only of offenses related to membership in the once-banned groups ''will be identified and released,'' Mr. de Klerk said in the speech. But he added that ''prisoners who have been sentenced for other offenses such as murder, terrorism or arson are not affected by this.''

Government officials said the latter category included guerrillas convicted of planting bombs, setting fire to buildings and killing police officers or municipal officials.

The Prisons Service will not disclose how many prisoners fit into the categories defined by Mr. de Klerk. One estimate, published today by The Sunday Times here, said about 450 political prisoners remained in South African jails, 350 of them on Robben Island, off Cape Town. Most of the others are held in Pollsmoor Prison in Cape Town or in Diepkloof Prison in Soweto.

The Sunday Times said that 350 to 370 of the prisoners were convicted of acts of violence or sabotage under South Africa's Terrorism Act. By these estimates, only 80 to 100 prisoners would be eligible for the release announced by Mr. de Klerk.

Unconditional Release Demanded

Members of the African National Congress, including its newly elected deputy president, Nelson Mandela, have made the unconditional release of all political prisoners, including those convicted of violent crimes, one of two conditions for joining the negotiations that Mr. de Klerk has proposed on a new constitution that would extend political rights to blacks. The other condition is the total lifting of the national state of emergency imposed in June 1986.

In a statement said to have been smuggled from Robben Island, the hunger strikers defined as political prisoners ''all incarcerated people who have engaged themselves in various ways in the struggle against the system of apartheid, its various structures and forces of reaction whose role is to maintain and sustain the apartheid system.''

''All rights pertaining to political prisoners have to be granted'' to all such people, the statement said.

Some of Mr. de Klerk's subordinates have hinted that a compromise could be worked out at the negotiating table. Under one scenario, the Government would declare a general amnesty and lift the state of emergency once the African National Congress ended the guerrilla struggle that it has waged since 1961.

Last year, nearly 600 political detainees held indefinitely under the state of emergency regulations forced the Government to release them by mounting a hunger strike that lasted several weeks. If the Government gives in to the current strike, a precendent will be set for guerrillas in exile accused of crimes who want to come home.

Delegation to Meet de Klerk

The African National Congress announced last month that it would send a delegation to meet with President de Klerk. This is expected to happen after Mr. Mandela, who is visiting Zimbabwe, returns to South Africa to head the delegation.

Politicians in the ruling National Party said that Mr. de Klerk was prepared to grant a general amnesty but that the issue was being ''hotly debated'' inside the Government, The Sunday Star newspaper of Johannesburg reported today.

White conservatives have assailed Mr. de Klerk for legalizing the African National Congress and other restricted organizations and releasing Mr. Mandela, who served 27 1/2 years as a political prisoner. The release of prisoners convicted of bombings that killed or maimed whites could increase white opposition toward his policy of changing apartheid.

Photo: South Africans protesting on Friday to demand the release of relatives who are held as political prisoners at Robben Island, the country's maximum-security prison. About 343 inmates are on a hunger strike there. (Associated Press)